Chapter Two

Need to read chapter one first? Go here!

“Dad, will I be a red like you?” I remember asking, after my first Maze Day experience, as we travelled back home, along with the other race enthusiasts.

“Ralph, you will be whatever you are best suited for. The Council decides,” he replied.

‘The Council decides’ was more than a statement of fact. It was the phrase most often heard, whenever anything could not be answered satisfactorily in Cheese World.
For example, “Why did we have to give up so much fruit for the Unseens today? They usually take less.” Would be answered with “The Council decides.” It was the sort of catch-all excuse for anything that felt beyond our control as mere citizens.

I remember not being satisfied with that answer. “Yes dad,” I said, “But how will they decide?”

“Well, they will put you through the trials along with the other young rats, and that will determine your placement. Remember, son, it’s not what color you are that matters, it’s what you contribute,” my father answered.

In Cheese World, there were only five possible classes to belong to. Each class signified by a color-coded ID band, attached to one ankle.

At the bottom of the great wall, were the Blues, often called Cancer rats, because their job was to grow tumors. Their lives were generally easy and filled with an abundance of foods the rest of us rarely saw. They didn’t live long, but they always seemed happy, at least, until close to the end, when the procedures started, and their often hairless, skinny bodies, wouldn’t hold down the rich foods anymore.

Just above the blues, were the Yellows. The yellows were insulated from the rest of Cheese World society by decree of the Council. They were druggies. Their erratic behavior could often be dangerous, or disturbing and their drugs were strictly forbidden to all other classes.

In the third tier, were the greens, the medical experiment mice. Their quality of life depended on what type of experiments they were selected for. Some had relatively painful, short lives, while others were given near super powers through mutations and robotic appendages.

Making up the top tier of the great wall, were the reds, the physical trial rats, and the maze runners. They were the athletes, and the thinkers. These were the top rats in nearly every testing category, and they were revered as Cheese Winners, throughout the colony. My father, Raul, lived there with his training partner, Reagan. To me, it was like heaven. My dad’s friends and acquaintances were the rats every young rat wanted to meet, and be more like.

The fifth class was the council. They had been awarded silver bands, for outstanding accomplishments and were now all part of a “longevity study” which meant, the Cheese Gods would do whatever it took to keep them alive, content and healthy. Rasmus had been the leader of the Council since anyone could remember, and when we said ‘the Council decides’ it was, in fact, often Rasmus who had done the deciding.

I knew what I wanted and I was determined to get it, so as I grew, I spent every waking moment that I was allowed, on my father’s exercise wheel, building speed and endurance, and paw-eye coordination. The other young rats began to take notice, but not in a good way.

“Yo, Ralph, you really think you’re big enough to be a runner? Runty Ralph? Do you? You really think you could keep up with me?” Razer, an especially cocky young rat asked one day.

He was athletic, I had to admit, and he’d taken to wearing a shiny band of red plastic he’d made from a drinking straw, around his ankle, declaring his status as a red already.

It was true, I was smaller than most of my litter mates, except one sister, but I knew what I could do.

“Tell you what,” I said, “Meet me behind the nursery after school today, and we’ll find out.”

It was always dark behind the nursery, but especially once The Cheese Gods left our world for the day, turning out their lights. So it was there in the murky shadows that I outlined my challenge.

“Okay, Razer,” I said, “I’m pretty sure you can beat me in a foot race on the world’s floor, but let’s make it interesting.”

I scratched out a small map in the dust, outlining our course, from one end of behind the wall, to the other. It would start with us crawling up an electrical cord at one corner, slapping the plug plate, then down, through a discarded coffee cup, with the bottom chewed out, over the top of the nursery roof, along the edge of a small cardboard box, down to the floor of the world, to the corner of behind the wall and back again.

Razer looked over the course as I explained it, pointing out the obstacles. “Fine, Runt, but if I win, you have to stop claiming you’re going red, deal?”

I looked at his extended paw for a moment, then added, “And if I win, you give up the red band, and I get to wear it.”

His eyes narrowed, and I thought he would back down, but a crowd of young rats was gathering, including Raven, a female he’d had a crush on since they shared a nest as babies. He couldn’t back down now, he took my paw, “Deal.”
We lined up, and Radley, the son of our official maze timer, offered to serve as judge.

“Fine with me,” Razer grunted, snorting, to indicate it wouldn’t make any difference.

“Me too,” I said.

Radley raised a paw and dropped it and we were off. Razer was fast and jumped ahead, leaping at the cord cable, and moving quickly up it, paw over paw. My first inclination was to follow him, but something said, why wait for him, run up the top of the cord, and off I went, turning my smaller size and better balance to good use.

I scrambled to the top, slapped the plate and slid back down, feeling Razer almost on top of me as he dropped, rolling to his feet, scrambling to catch up, as I put distance between us, headed for the cup. We were nearly side by side, with the cup looming ahead. Razer put on a burst of speed, and dodged through the cup, then kicked back, spinning it, to turn the opening away from me, as I dived toward it.

Razer dashed off, while I was collecting myself for a second attempt at the cup, landing inside it, front paws against one side, as the cup shifted, and started to roll over. Then it hit, me, the cup would roll me faster than I could run, if I just got it going, like my dad’s wheel, so I did.

“Look out!” I squealed as the cup caught traction rolling, with blinding speed toward the nursery’s glass wall. Razer was forced to dodge, slowing him down. The cup hit the nursery wall, as I scrambled out, leaping from the top of the cup to the top of the wall, pushing the cup aside as I vaulted, gripping the edge of the wall top and throwing myself over, onto the mesh roof of the nursery.

Razer, two steps behind, grinned and moved to follow my lead, hitting the top of the cup, as he launched himself, too late. His back paws, slipped, as he tipped back, landing on his tail, and rolling down between the nursery and the cup, sprawling onto the floor of the world.

I didn’t look back. I might just win this if I stayed focused. The leap down from the nursery was almost too much, and my right front leg twinged as I landed and hit the floor running. The corner loomed into site and Razer was nowhere to be seen.

I tagged the corner and retraced my steps, back toward the nursery, just as Razer came down from the roof, ramping down my back in midair, shoving me hard to the floor.
It was over before I knew it and Razer came to gloat. “Told you so, runt. You’ll never be big enough to run the maze,” he leered at me.

“Dad,” I said, later that night. “Is running the maze just about size and speed?”

He ruffled the hair between my ears and smiled, quietly, “No, but it’s also not up to you, whether you ever get there, or not, remember? The council decides.”

I nodded, but inside I was more determined than ever to prove that I could do it. There had to be a way. I spent that night, running my makeshift obstacle course, over and over. One thing I knew, I could stand up against the maze, Razer wouldn’t be there to stop me. After that night, I never mentioned my dreams of becoming a red again, a deal’s a deal, but I thought it about I every moment of every day.

Next Maze Day, I lined up for the button drawing. To keep the Cheese Gods unaware of our movements, we often switched places with Unseens, who enjoyed some time in the Great Wall houses, looking at the view of Cheese World and sleeping in the luxurious, fresh bedding.

There were black and white buttons, in an old, chipped coffee mug, with only half a handle left. Rats that wanted to attend Maze Day, dipped a paw in, with their eyes closed, to draw one out. A black button meant you stayed, a white button granted you access to the beam seats, high above the maze.

The only better view was the box seats afforded the council, from the glass fronts of their own homes, directly overlooking the maze.

I climbed up and out onto the beam, looking for a front row seat. I had gotten their early, and my plan was to study the maze and map it if I could. My own trials were coming before next maze day and it was unlikely that major changes would be made before then. I found a spot near the intersection of the beams, and took out my paper and a bit of pencil lead. As other rats filed in, I stared down at the maze and copied what I saw.

I sat mesmerized, through the entire races, while most rats left after the first few runs, featuring the strongest maze runners. I watched as they worked through the ranks. I studied the technique of each runner as they entered. Some would quickly run into each avenue they passed, then back again, while others studied each possible entry, and still others plowed ahead, as if they had a path in mind from the very beginning.

While the maze itself did not change, there were automated barriers that slid out from the wall, or popped up from the floor as the runner passed. Some rats seemed to think these barriers stood between them and their cheese, with no recourse. More than one, when faced, nose first, with such an obstacle turned and walked from the maze, back toward the launch platform, dejected.

But, from my perch, I could see, that as each obstacle popped up, other avenues opened. Not only that, but there was never only one reward, and many times, the runners who won, didn’t find the biggest reward, secreted down some other pathway inside the maze.

Then I saw something that changed everything in Cheese World. As each runner attained his prize, he stopped. The game was over for him, or so he assumed, but as one run ended, I turned my attention to the Cheese Gods. They didn’t immediately remove the runner from the maze. She walked her cheese calmly back to her entrance, while they checked off boxes on the maze record, notated times, and discussed the outcome. She had time to take at least two other rewards, that were down short paths she passed on her way back, with her winnings.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Was this true every time, or was it just this way now, at the end of the Maze Day Trials? I wondered. Would the runner be allowed to carry back more than one reward?

I sat and waited, as the runners were returned to their homes, their rewards deposited alongside them by the Cheese Gods, I wanted to see, what would happen to the remaining rewards, after all since cheddar was so precious, they must have some safe place to keep all of this precious cheddar, until next Maze Day.

I waited until the Cheese Gods had left our world, through the dark first half of night, while my friends and neighbors enjoyed the freedom that came after curfew, I sat on the cold hard beam, waiting, for something to happen to this precious commodity that had been so callously left in the maze.

Then, came something that I hadn’t expected. A creature came in, much like the Cheese Gods, but different, somehow. It wasn’t wearing a ceremonial white robe, in fact, it looked rather disheveled, from what I knew of Cheese God appearances. The creature approached the maze, carrying what looked like an ordinary trash can, the sort under every table in Cheese World, and into it, the creature unceremoniously deposited the unclaimed rewards, piled in with the other garbage!

I was shocked, enraged and confused. I’d been taught my whole life the value of cheddar, and now this beast was so callously destroying what could have meant so much to so many. My resolve was irreversible. I would make it my mission to make certain that every runner claimed every reward they were allowed, this couldn’t be allowed to continue!

**Like what you've read so far? Stay tuned, I'll be sharing more chapters before the entire novel is launched on Cyber Monday on Payhip! **